Deal may be reached to keep development in New Haven’s Hill neighborhood intact

Snag had been denial of a zone change

By Mary O’Leary moleary@nhregister.com @nhrmoleary on Twitter

Published 7:26 pm, Thursday, July 21, 2016

NEW HAVEN >> Mayor Toni Harp said she is confident the city has worked out a deal with Randy Salvatore for development in the Hill and it will also come to a timely conclusion on Yale’s parking plan.

The mayor made her comments after an event this week that celebrated The Union Residences at 205 Church St.

The leadership of the board, as well as Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, head of the Livable City Initiative, and state Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez, a former Board of Alders president, among others, have been meeting with Salvatore on keeping his $100 million plan for the Hill intact.

It reportedly fell apart over a misunderstanding that Salvatore had an agreement to put up a hospital medical building on what has been labeled Parcel 11, across from Tower One, Tower East off Church Street South.

Some 11 members of the 30-member Board of Alders have some connection to the Yale University unions, Local 34 and Local 35, which are currently negotiating contracts with the university.

Salvatore stormed out of the June meeting after the last-minute change, complaining he had been betrayed, and predicted there would be long-term consequences for the city’s future development by others watching these actions.

He vowed not to come back if Parcel 11 continued to be excluded from a zone change to BD-3 from BA, which allows for taller and denser development.

He said then that there is no deal with Yale, that it is not a silent partner in any development, nor are any of its affiliates.

Reached Thursday, Salvatore did not want to talk about the specifics, but confirmed there has been good dialogue in the past few weeks.

“I’m optimistic it all can come together between now and then,” Salvatore said, referring to the Aug. 1 Board of Alders’ meeting where the item could be amended and voted on.

“I believe we will be announcing soon that we have a deal,” Harp said. “I’m excited about that project.”

Harp credited Neal-Sanjurjo with bringing everyone together. “She is the hero in this case,” the mayor said.

“We are having conversations. We are at the table,” said aldermanic President Tyisha Walker, D-23, who declined to comment beyond that.

The Hill plan involves some 140 units of housing, retail outlets and possible commercial development on 11.6 acres on parcels that include two closed schools and a series of parking lots. Salvatore has also agreed to have 30 percent of the housing be affordable.

He would pay the city $1.225 million for the former Welch and Prince schools, which would both be converted to housing, with proceeds split three ways.

One-third would go to the general fund and another third would be set aside for New Haven Works for training and placement of Hill residents in jobs.

The last third would be a fund for revitalization of the Congress Avenue and Kimberly Square commercial corridors and for initiatives proposed by the Hill North and the Hill South Management teams. The proposals would have to be approved by Hill alders.

On the overall parking plan, which Yale University puts together annually to show arrangements for staff, workers and a small number of students, continuation of a public hearing on the issue by the same joint committee is set for July 27 at City Hall.

Corporation Counsel John Rose Jr. has told the board it has to formally approve the overall parking plan before the City Plan Commission can vote on Yale’s proposal for its $70 million replacement of the Gibbs lab building and other improvements at Science Hill off Whitney Avenue.

Yale has testified that many of its buildings were constructed pre-zoning and the university has vested rights in them. As for the rest, they were all approved by some formal action of the city and cannot be undone retroactively.

The issue is Yale workers parking on city streets and taking up spaces from residents because they do not want to pay for parking arranged by the university, particularly in the Hill, Newhallville and East Rock neighborhoods.

As for the Gibbs lab project, Yale has testified it will not have to add parking because the same number of staff and faculty will come back to the site after renovation is complete.

A working group of alders and other officials is supposed to come together to deal with the larger issue of transportation needs in the city, but that group has yet to be appointed.

Harp said work is being done on resolving the parking plan issue.

“They (the alders) tell me they are going to get it done as soon as possible. They understand how important it is for the city and they are not going to hold it because they know what it means,” Harp said in terms of jobs and millions in building permits for New Haven.